Reviewing the Drama: Broadway, Off-Broadway, Ballet, Movies, and TV Reviews

The winners for the 71st annual Tony Awards have been announced and feted! The full list of winners is below, beginning with the big four categories. Thereafter are the winners in the play categories followed by the nominees in the musical categories. Winners are notated with bold typeface and an asterisk. Best Musical Come From Away Dear Evan Hansen * Groundhog Day Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 Hooray!!! Dear Evan Hansen  had been the early frontrunner, but Come From Away  was the horse that broke late, and made the category competitive. (I certainly don't mean that as a knock on Great Comet , which I've seen and loved, or Groundhog Day , which I haven't seen; that's just what the race, according to chatter, was.) I love this musical. It's raw, honest, and important. It worked so well off-Broadway, it works amazingly on Broadway, and you better look for it in your town because I have no doubt it will be incredible on tour. Best Play ...

Casting News NYCB principal dancer Sara Mearns will appear as a guest artist in the Matthew Bourne ballet adaptation of The Red Shoes , which will play at New York's City Center this fall. Mearns will alternate performances with Ashley Shaw , who originated the role of Victoria Page, the tortured dancer, in the London premiere. The Red Shoes runs October 26 through November 5. The New York Times has more , and the City Center website has the cast schedule. Lin-Manuel Miranda ( Hamilton ) has joined the cast of the upcoming reboot of the beloved animated series, Duck Tales . Miranda joins a cast that already includes Ben Schwartz and Danny Pudi . Theater Mania has more. It's an Honor Drama League Awards —Winners of the Drama League Awards were announced, with Ben Platt  making history as the youngest winner of the Distinguished Performance Award. Elsewhere, Oslo  took home the Outstanding Play honor, and Platt's show, Dear Evan Hansen , won Outstanding Music...

Mark Rylance Sets Broadway Return The three-time Tony Award winner and Academy Award winner will return to Broadway this winter. Rylance ( Twelfth Night , Bridge of Spies ) leads the cast of Farinelli and the King , a new play by Clair van Kampen that premiered at Shakespeare's Globe in 2015. As noted in the announcement on Playbill , Farinelli and the King is "inspired by the true story of the Italian castrato opera singer," and includes many Handel arias. Previews at Broadway's Belasco Theatre (where Rylance was last in the dual Twelfth Night/Richard III productions) begin December 5, with opening night set for December 17. The limited engagement is scheduled to conclude March 25, 2018. Casting News This is not a drill: Aaron Tveit will play Bobby in Company this summer! The stage and screen vet ( Next to Normal , Graceland ) will take on the lead role of Stephen Sondheim's musical at the Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, MA, August 10-Sept...

The nominees for the 71st annual Tony Awards have been announced. The full list of nominees is below, beginning with the big four categories. Thereafter are the nominees in the play categories followed by the nominees in the musical categories. Tune into the Tony Awards on CBS June 11 to find out who will walk away with a statue. Best Musical Come From Away Dear Evan Hansen Groundhog Day Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 There were 13 new musicals this season, necessarily leaving several off this list. That said, from what I've seen and heard, these are the right choices. (A fifth nominee was possible if a certain number of shows earned a certain percentage of the vote, but, clearly, that didn't happen.) What's notable is that two of the four musicals, Dear Evan Hansen and The Great Comet , opened in the fall. All too often, shows that open in the fall either quickly close, or, if they're still open, are forgotten by Tony nominators amid the glu...